I don't pick up the mailI don't pick up the phoneI don't answer the doorI'd just as soon be aloneI don't keep this place upI just keep the lights downI don't live in these roomsI just rattle around

I'm just a ghost in this houseI'm just a shadow upon these wallsAs quietly as a mouse I haunt these hallsI'm just a whisper of smokeI'm all that's left of two hearts on fireThat once burned out of controlYou took my body and soulI'm just a ghost in this house

I don't care if it rainsI don't care if it's clearI don't mind stayin' inThere's another ghost hereHe sits down in your chairAnd he shines with your lightAnd he lays down his headOn your pillow at night

I'm just a ghost in this houseI'm just a shadow upon these wallsI'm living proof of the damage that heartbreak doesI'm just a whisper of smokeI'm all that's left of two hearts on fireThat once burned out of controlAnd took my body and soulI'm just a ghost in this house

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - great choice. Hands down, that's it. Did you ever see a night so long? Bob Dylan's version of Delia is one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard. "All the friends I ever had are gone."

When you were mineI was still playingAnd promises that I madeWere just words I was sayingI was playing you for a foolBreaking love's precious ruleI did you so wrongGuess you knew all alongThat I had my boss lie for meTo say I was working lateMy friends alibied for meWhen I'd slip out to meet a dateBut, baby, now I seeI was only cheating meBefore you goI just want you to know(Chorus)That I've had a change of heartI've had a change of heartI see what I put you throughAnd I'll make it up to youI've had a change of heartI've just got to show you How differently I feelThat I can be true to youThat my love is realBut my past will forever haunt meIf you say that you don't want meI'm down on my kneesI'm beggin' you please, won't you?Have a change of heartPlease have a, have a change of heartI see what I put you throughI'll make it up to youPlease have a change of heartPlease have a change of heartPlease have a change of heart

"4. R.E.M., "Everybody Hurts" (1993)Michael Stipe sounds like a bleating lamb who lost his mother on this overplayed but still devastating song, which keenly summarizes a universal truth atop a swooning string section."

"4. R.E.M., "Everybody Hurts" (1993)Michael Stipe sounds like a bleating lamb who lost his mother on this overplayed but still devastating song, which keenly summarizes a universal truth atop a swooning string section."

"God Only Knows" Beach Boys. "Don't Worry Baby" was also sweet and a little heartbreaking. My Linda Ronstadt might be "Keep Me from Blowin' Away." I always thought "Desperado" was a little too obvious, but I get it. Some of Lou Reed's stuff was a little heartbreaking, particularly from Berlin, but even some stuff from VU. Johnny Cash doing "Hurt". PP Arnold's version of "First Cut is the Deepest". "Take This Waltz" from Leonard Cohen is in my top three. "The Water Is Wide" and "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" and it doesn't matter who does them. "Joey" Concrete Blonde - mebbe cause I know a Joey it always hurts. Another Roy Orbison bid - that live thingy they always show on PBS where he does E Costello's "The Comedians." Costello could sure write a heartbreaker now and then. "Wonderful Life" The Felice Bros. And the Everlys knew a thing or two about squeezing a tear out from out of an eye. "Do the Freddy"..... Oh, great Kukamuka, can't cha hear me talkin' to ya?

Ok, I can see thinking it is a terrible song, although I personally like it. Tastes differ and all that. But "stupid"? What's stupid about it?

Universal truths are almost never keenly summarized atop swooning string sections.So you would argue that "everybody cries, and everybody hurts sometimes" is not a universal truth? Come on. The song is aimed at teenagers. When you were a teenager did you never feel miserable and completely alone in the world?

Thanks Palladian ... I wanted to post this b4 but I thought maybe it was not allowed.

O mio babbino caroO my dear papaI like him, he is handsome, handsomeI want to go to Porta Rossato buy the ring!Yes, yes, I want to go there!And if my love were in vain,I would go to the Ponte Vecchioand throw myself in the Arno!I am aching, I am tortured!Oh God, I'd like to die!Father, have pity, have pity!Father, have pity, have pity!It gives me goosebumps

Good choice, Palladian. I can't seem to find it, but there's a moment when Tannhauser is singing to Elisabeth -- is it when he sees her funeral procession? I can't remember. Anyway, his crying "Elisabeth" always gets me.

I told you guys about the canon before and this matches perfectly with it. I first discovered "I'm so lonesome" through Al Green's version, and then - deeply moved - had to discover who wrote it. That started my life-long love of Hank Williams, Sr.

BJM - you saw Leonard last night? How great. My daughter has tickets for a May concert. A few more: Tom Waits "Tom Traubert's Blues"And I heard Marshall Crenshaw on a Terri Gross radio program a few years back do an acoustic version of "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" - he really got it.And I know this one's girly but I was driving the first time I heard Tori Amos, it was the song "Winter" - I had to pull the car off the road it was so sad and beautiful.

I lost track, but put me down for the Possum, He Stopped Loving Her Today.

I remember watching him perform it on a late night talk show the year it won the Grammy - 1981? I think it was the Tonight Show? Country hadn't gone uptown yet and I recall thinking the reception was somewhat cool on the part of Carson and the audience. Then he delivered the song. The applause was over the top - they were stunned. What a master of the art - a real showman.

What a great thread. Lots of music I love and recommendations for more.

Orphan Girl - excellent.I love Raul, love the Mavericks.Put me down, too, for Allison Krauss, the one Revenant mentions. That was used beautifully on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer once. Go figure.

For many years, we'd have a block party on my street the Sunday before Mardi Gras. There's a parade that passes by the nearby Children's Hospital.

A resident at Children's had a little throw-together band, and they'd play a day on his porch. The lead singer was terrible. These were doctors, entertaining themselves, but with a full PA system. His schtick, and I'm not sure if he was even aware of it, was that he'd imitate the singer of the songs he covered, starting out with Van Morrison "Brown-Eyed Girl" and moving through Willie and Waylon and Jimmy Buffett and god, it went on al day, with more and more drink consumed. His big finish was always "Crying," and no, he couldn't reach the notes. That didn't stop him from trying.

So take heed, take heed of the western wind,Take heed of the stormy weather.And yes, there's something you can send back to me,Spanish boots of Spanish leather.-----------One more time at midnight, near the wallTake off your heavy make-up and your shawl.Won't you descend from the throne, from where you sit?Let me feel your love one more time before I abandon it.------------Sign on the window says "Lonely,"

For understated pain, I believe in the June Christy version,HERE’S THAT RAINY DAY (Van Husen – from Carnival in Flanders)

Maybe I should have savedThose leftover dreamsFunnyBut here's that rainy dayHere's that rainy dayThey told me aboutAnd I laughed at the thoughtThat it might turn out this wayWhere is that worn out wishThat I threw asideAfter it brought my lover nearFunny how love becomesA cold rainy dayFunnyThat rainy day is hereFunnyHow love becomesA cold rainy dayFunnyThat rainy day is here

Sunday Morning Coming Down by Kristofferson for sure, the Cash version was to damn cheerful.

On the Sunday morning sidewalk,Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.'Cos there's something in a Sunday,Makes a body feel alone.And there's nothin' short of dyin',Half as lonesome as the sound,On the sleepin' city sidewalks:Sunday mornin' comin' down.

"Lord, you play a hard game, you know we follow every ruleThen you take the one thing we thought we'd never loseAll I ask is if she's with you please keep her warm and safeand if it's in your power please purge the memory of this place"

From EW's list, I'd have to put "Tears in Heaven" at #1, although more because of the backstory than the song itself.

And I heartily endorse all three of the Concrete Blonde songs mentioned previously.